Benefits & Work Newsletter
FEWER PIP REVIEWS, MORE WCA REASSESSMENTS, MORE FACE-TO-FACE
From April 2026, the time between PIP reviews is to be extended for the majority of claimants aged 25 and over, to a minimum of three years for a new claim, rising to 5 years at their next review.
The reduced numbers will allow assessment providers to increase the proportion of face-to-face, rather than telephone, reviews they carry out.
For PIP, the proportion will rise from 6% at present to 30%.
For WCAs, it will rise from 13% to 30%.
This is likely to reduce the number of awards. In 2024, the success rate for face-to-face PIP assessments was 44% compared to 57% for virtual assessments.
The change is also intended to allow more WCA reassessments to be carried out from April.
PIP PLANNED REVIEW NUMBERS DOUBLE, SUCCESS RATES FALL
The number of PIP planned reviews carried out in the most recent quarter has almost doubled compared to last year, the latest DWP statistics show, but success rates for both reviews and fresh claims have fallen.
Planned PIP review numbers are up by 96% as the DWP tries to cut the enormous backlog.
But at the same time, the success rate for new claims has fallen from 44% to 38% in the course of a year.
And whilst the percentage of awards that were decreased or disallowed after a planned review remains very similar, there was a big drop in the percentage of awards that were increased. It was down from 24% last year to 14% this year.
So, DWP seem to have succeeded in making PIP planned award reviews virtually financially neutral: three quarters of awards stay the same and almost the same proportion of claimants have their award decreased or disallowed as have it increased.
No wonder then, that the DWP are now willing to increase the time between reviews – they no longer have anything to lose.
